Paul Hyde, born on 21 May 1955 in Harrogate, England, is the vocalist and lyricist of the Canadian rock group Payola$. Hyde emigrated to Canada as a teenager and met guitarist and producer Bob Rock while attending Belmont High School; the pair later formed Payola$ with drummer Ian Tiles and bassist Marty Higgs. The band’s first single, "China Boys", released in 1979 on their own label, attracted A&M Records, leading to the 1980 EP Introducing Payola$. Their debut studio album, In a Place Like This (1981), blended reggae and ska influences but achieved limited commercial impact. In 1982, the release of No Stranger to Danger, produced by Mick Ronson, yielded the Juno Award–winning single "Eyes of a Stranger" and earned the group multiple Juno Awards, including Most Promising Group. Subsequent albums Hammer on a Drum (1983) and Here's the World for Ya (1985) achieved moderate chart success, and a 1985 collaboration with David Foster resulted in the single "You're the Only Love". After the Payola$ entered a hiatus in the mid-1980s, Hyde and Rock continued as Rock and Hyde, releasing Under the Volcano in 1987 and achieving Canadian chart success with "Dirty Water". The Payola$ disbanded in 1988, reunited intermittently from 2003 to 2008, and released the EP Langford (Part One) in 2007.
